Backman SOCY 1000 Big Picture SOCY 1000 is

Backman SOCY 1000 Big Picture

SOCY 1000 is a Liberal Arts course n n Liberal arts? Various characteristics • Especially important for this course: Broadening perspectives; Helping overcome parochialism

Parochialism n n Parochialism: limited understanding of how the world does or could operate due to actors’ limited experiences in the world parochial: limited in understanding due to a narrow range of social experiences • We are all, to a degree, parochial

Ethnocentrism n Ethnocentrism: the belief that your culture’s ways of doing things are the best and that other cultures and cultural features are inferior to the extent they differ from yours • Very common

Cultural Relativism n Cultural relativism: the belief that cultures should not be compared with each other and that cultural features should be evaluated on the basis of how they contribute to the success of the society

Compare “A” and “B” When Backman asks, “Compare A and B, ” he wants 1. Define A 2. Define B 3. Tell how A and B are alike 4. Tell how A and B differ

Compare Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism 1. 2. 3. 4. Define ethnocentrism as above Define cultural relativism as above Alike because both are approaches to the evaluation of cultures and cultural features Differ because cultural relativism rejects comparisons with other cultures, while ethnocentrism is all about comparisons and even offers one standard for comparison, the evaluator’s own culture

Course Objectives n Bottom line: Make you more competent in making sense of what is going around you • Make you a “better” citizen n See syllabus for more

Warning: Course Pains n Some thing we talk about this semester will make you feel creepy • If not, some would say I’m not doing my job • One of the messages of this course is that what seems normal and natural to some people may seem creepy to others n The creepy thing won’t be the same for everyone

General Topics 1 n Context of behavior • Culture n Predictable patterns of behavior • Social structure n Learning what to do • Socialization

General Topics 2 n Population size and structure • Demography n Distribution of “goodies” • Stratification • Race and ethnicity • Gender

THEME I: The Thomas Theorem n People decide what to do next on the basis of what they think is going on now • Above is my simplified version of W. I. Thomas’s original. The original is … If men define situations as real they are real in their consequences W. I. Thomas

THEME II: The Uncertainty Principle n Uncertainty Is a Powerful Factor in Social Behavior and Social Structure • Much of what we do is an attempt to reduce uncertainty • Much of what we do generates uncertainty • Institutions and structures reduce and generate uncertainty

THEME III: Why Do People Follow Rules? n Most of the time, most people do what they are supposed to do WHY ? ? ? (Part of the answer has to do with uncertainty)

Rules and Sociology “The central task of sociology is to understand how rules generate their effects, n how people respond to the rules under which they live, and n how the rules change over time, ” n n according to Erik Olin Wright, 2012 President of the American Sociological Association

THEME IV: The Creaming Principle n People with greater appropriate resources are better able to take advantage of opportunities • Helps explain why the rich get richer • Resources include money, attractiveness, family name, popularity, fame, power, access to powerful people, college degree, test taking ability, working car, …

Review Definitions n n n Parochial Ethnocentrism Cultural Relativism Thomas Theorem Uncertainty Principle Creaming Principle